Osborne’s first day at work – activists to pulp Evening Standards for renewable energy

This isn’t just a stunt. A new worker’s cooperative is set to employ people on a real living wage in a recycling scheme that is heavily trolling George Osborne. Jenny Nelson writes

May 2, 2017
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2 min read

OsborneStandard EnergySolutions Ltd. is the name of a new business that quite simply wants to turn Evening Standard newspapers into green energy. They will use industrial pellet milling machines to turn leftover newspapers into high-density fuel pellets that can be burned to create energy in a relatively clean way.

Osborne has been widely criticised since announcing his new role as Editor of the Evening Standard. Adding insult to injury, the father of austerity measures in the UK was revealed to have benefitted from numerous lucrative commercial contracts while simultaneously acting as a politician. Almost 200,000 people signed a petition started by one of his constituents urging him to “pick a job” and he has since stepped down as an MP.

‘We’ll do what George was never able or willing to do: give workers democratic control of their workplace and pay them a living wage’, says a statement on the renewable energy initiative’s fundraising page.

The project is aiming to raise £75,300 to buy milling and bagging equipment and cover rental fees plus other start-up costs. They say they will be working with local authorities to manage site recycling bins near tube stations and collection sacks will be distributed to allow less-privileged people to get involved and earn money by turning ‘propaganda into power’.

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